Scars That Never Fade Away
by RabuNaruto
Summary: Kakashi FanFic. WARNING:Contains spoilers about Kakashi & Itachi if you haven't read the entire manga or watched the anime so far! Kakashi is happy... At least he thinks he is. Scars from the past are still hurting. After a run-in with Itachi Uchiha and a familiar jutsu with a twist, bad memories rise to the surface. Can Kakashi's comrades pull him out of his damaged state of mind?
1. Chapter 1

**This story is set in Naruto Shippuden - Naruto and others will hopefully be appearing later in the story! :3**

* * *

 _Obito... Sensei... Father... Rin._

Kakashi Hatake stood at the memorial stone. He felt a wave of guilt wash over him.

He knew all was well, that he had new comrades now, and he was happy, wasn't he? But scars had been left on his heart, ones that he couldn't forget...

Kakashi only hoped that his students, still young and innocent, wouldn't find out what he had done.

* * *

"You need to investigate an old Akatsuki hideout. That is your misson!"

Tsunade's words echoed across the room.

Kakashi's brow furrowed "Are you sure a three-man squad of me and two chunin will be enough?" he said calmly, careful not to spark the Hokage's fierce temper.

"It is the Akatsuki, after all. I understand that if we were to bring more ninja to investigate the hideout, we might be discovered, but I'm still not sure."

The Fifth thought deeply for a moment.

"I'm confident that your abilities will be enough. And anyway, we're fairly sure that it isn't being used any more." She pointed out.

"Kakashi, are you listening?"

Kakashi was staring at the floor, looking tense. He quickly looked up, surprised.

"I- I'm sorry Lady Tsunade. Understood. We'll leave immediately."

He moved rapidly towards the door, going to address the two ninja he was going to be working with.

"Shizune, is it just me or does he seem anxious right now?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune raised one eyebrow.

"I suppose you're right, I wonder what's got him like that..."

* * *

In a dark cavern, a flickering silhouette with fearsome eyes was informing the 'Akatsuki' of plans and giving orders.

"If you come across any shinobi who can give you intel on any jinchuuriki, you must obtain that information. The task of capturing the next tailed beast is also at hand. Meeting adjourned."

Pein's image flickered and disappeared.

The rest of the Akatsuki nodded, disappearing too.

* * *

It was midday, and the sun was shining. The trees swayed in the gentle breeze.

The three-man squad ran through the trees, leaving the village behind them. Kakashi plotted their route in his head, hoping it would only take a few hours to get to the hideout...

The entrance to the was dark and looming. It was a gigantic cave.

The three ninja looked up at the bare stone.

"Be on your guard, there could be traps anywhere." Kakashi ordered.

They entered cautiously and daylight soon turned into the dim glow of torches that had already been placed, lighting up the path.

Searching in the shadows, they kept their eyes open for anything they could find.

Quite far in, they came across strange room-like area that had four curves of metal sticking out of the rock.

 _It... almost looks l_ _ike when I was caught in the Tsukuyomi,_ Kakashi thought. _Two to bind the hands, two to bind the feet. Who knows what could have happened here._

He violently shook his head. He hoped no one had or would have to experience that pain.

"Captain! Are you alright, sir?" his lively shinobi colleague asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine." Kakashi replied firmly.

The team carried on for a while, soon finding a gigantic cavern at the end of a rocky passageway. Kakashi looked around for traps, taking his time. One of his teammates, seeming to have gotten bored, made a suggestion:

"Since we've pretty much confirmed that there's no one here, why don't we split up to find any information we can?" The ninja asked.

"I guess that would be more efficient," Kakashi murmured, distracted, "But as I said, be wary of traps."

Each of the ninja set out to a different tunnel of the cave, exploring deeper and deeper into the darkness...

Suddenly, Kakashi heard a calm, even voice out of the shadows behind him.

"To think I'd find you here, Kakashi of the Sharingan."


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews, I love it when I get feedback. Internet has returned, sorry for the late update!**

* * *

Kakashi's eye widened and he slowly turned around.

Standing before him, blocking the path back, there was a figure draped in a black robe with crimson clouds floating on it's cloth. The sign of the Akatsuki.

And those piercing, hypnotic red eyes. They shone through the darkness of the passageway, rubies among stones.

"So it's you then. Itachi Uchiha, I had a feeling you might be here..." Kakashi said, adding false bravado to his words.

Itachi gave him a cold stare, getting right to his objective. "Tell me everything you know about the carrier of the kyuubi."

Kakashi was furious that Itachi thought it was a possibility that he would just give the information over. He wouldn't betray his comrades.

"No. I would never endanger my village or Naruto Uzumaki!" he growled angrily, trying to stay calm.

Itachi paused. "Why am I not surprised... I suppose I'll just have to make you, then."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. That deathly cold stare again.

Itachi closed his eyes... "Try to stay alive, I won't go easy on you." he murmured, and so the battle ensued.

Kakashi revealed his sharingan eye. Suddenly, he had a fireball heading straight towards him! Quickly performing the Subsitute technique, the flames hit a solid rock.

Itachi soon had knives at the throats of his newly created clones, multiple times.

The fight continued like this, the two ninja almost matched equally in strength. They were both skilled in taijutsu and ninjutsu, but the gifted Itachi's powerful genjutsu was a problem for Kakashi...

If he was caught in Itachi's genjutsu, he would surely be defeated. He had told himself many times to never look into those powerful sharingan eyes again.

The fight was a mess of fire and vibration. The rocks scattered around them, crumbling underneath the two shinobi's feet.

A blood-curdling scream suddenly echoed through the cave. _No!_

Kakashi turned towards the sound only to be staring into two sharingan eyes.

He couldn't move. But he hadn't been completely caught yet.

"Just how many people do you have in here to kill us, Itachi?" he hissed.

"Just Kisame, actually," was the calm reply, "But he can be a lot to deal with, especially for the low level ninja you've brought. It really should have been elite ANBU Black Ops, such as yourself... Captain." But Itachi's voice was already fading.

"Don't call me that... I..." Kakashi said, as he felt himself falling into pitch black darkness.

* * *

Kakashi felt himself land with a bump on a hard floor. Or was it just an illusion?

He didn't know... But... He was in the place that he lived in until he left the ANBU, and there was someone at the sink, someone he knew very well.

Kakashi saw himself desperately trying to wash Rin's blood off his hand, failing every time.

 _It never did wash off in the end,_ he thought, _But I learned to live with it._

A bright flash of light interrupted his thinking, as it did time and time again as he saw events from his past in the ANBU, 11 year old Itachi's first day, investigating the wood style ninja, the countless assassinations and the run in with Orochimaru.

Orochimaru.

The name echoed in Kakashi's head, getting louder and louder each time, instead of fading.

He was just floating in the darkness now, hearing that name repeated over and over again. He closed his eyes and attempted to cover his ears, but his arms wouldn't move.

 _Help..._

* * *

Kakashi's eye flicked open and he found that he was breathing heavily.

He looked at his arms and legs, and saw that they were secured to the stone by the metal restraints he'd seen earlier. This was real, right?

 _If so,_ _I can get out of these with one of the most basic techniques a ninja can perform. This is Itachi's work..._ _It has to be some kind of trap._

"Analysing your surroundings. I suppose you think this _is_ a trap. But think about it, doesn't your chakra feel too low to perform any jutsu, let alone a strong escape jutsu? Your chakra is being drained by the special type of metal that holds you to the rock." That annoyingly calm voice.

"Now, let's get started. You _will_ tell me what I need to know."

Itachi appeared in front of him and pulled out a katana.

"Genjutsu doesn't seem to break you, so let's see if you can handle this. It's a lot like the Tsukyomi, actually. You just get to keep your wounds."

* * *

 _I'm sorry, Kakashi. But I must play my role as the villain._ _And I have to play it well._


	3. Chapter 3

**There was a bit of a cliffhanger last chapter, with Itachi's slightly cryptic thoughts causing some confusion. This chapter you get to see inside his head a bit more. Also, some other characters appear!**

 **(Just to say, all the events that happen in memories and flashbacks have all actually happened in the anime and/or manga – This is just another spoiler warning basically, heh.)**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Blinding sunlight greeted the scared ninja as he stumbled out of the cave. He wasn't sure if anyone else had survived. He'd heard lots of thuds and noises that sounded like rocks cracking... And a terrible scream.

 _Who's was it? I have to get back to the village, so they can help if the team survived._

He wondered if he was deserting his comrades, leaving them to die.

"No," the chunin thought out loud, "I'm just going to get help. They're both too skilled to die, anyway. Especially the captain, he can handle the Akatsuki, right...?"

Frightened by the doubt in his voice, he ran at top speed towards Konohagakure, still adjusting to the light.

* * *

Pain.

It felt white hot, agonising.

The katana, stabbing in and out, avoiding Kakashi's vital organs – death, so close, yet so far.

He focused on the his thoughts, blocking out Itachi's face, his demands, staring only on the red of his own blood, making it the only thing he could see.

Had the silver-haired shinobi been in any situation like this before? He remembered seeing red in his brief fight with Orochimaru, and being frozen with... No, no, that was fear, not pain. Why did he even remember that far back?

Why _was_ Orochimaru's name echoing in his head in that strange illusion?

 _What's happening? I can't think straight._ _So many questio-_ A jolt of pain rattled Kakashi's body.

* * *

Itachi kept looking for reactions to the stabs he delivered and questions he asked in an icy cold voice, but was only ever rewarded by sharp intakes of breath from the silver haired ninja.

 _He's holding out well._ Was the thought in Itachi's head.

 _Killing my old comrades. Having to wear this cold mask of indifference. It's so easy to do now._

 _...I've been doing it for so long, after all._

 _Although this secret mission was entrusted to me long ago, I have to play the part of the villain until death._

 _No one will ever know about this mission._ The powerful Uchiha said inside his head, getting back to the task at hand.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set, causing the sky to glow a soft orange. The day was ending in Konohagakure.

A loud voice could be heard if you happened to be walking by the Hokage residence...

"You're saying that Kakashi-sensei is in _danger,_ Lady Tsunade? How do you know? Please, tell us everything!" Sakura Haruno exclaimed worriedly.

Standing in the Hokage's office were Sai, Yamato, Ino and Sakura.

"Calm down, Sakura." replied Tsunade, "Let me explain. Not long ago, a battered shinobi who was assigned to the investigation team with Kakashi and another chunin arrived at the leaf with the bad news that you've all just heard. You're the only team with a high enough all-round skill level available to take this mission, backup, rescue, whatever it may end up being."

Ino had a confused expression on her face. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have a question. Why am I here instead of Naruto?"

Tsunade looked grim, and began to speak again.

"We don't want him to know of this mission until the situation has been confirmed. There's a chance that the Kyuubi inside him will start to emerge if he becomes angry and jumps to conclusions. There's not much left to say about this mission, only to be careful and alert. Shizune has given you the directions to the hideout. You're ready to go. Good luck!"

With a quick nod from Yamato, the whole team left the room.

And so the four-man squad set off, as night began to fall.

Sakura was filled with fierce determination.

 _Kakashi-sensei, we're gonna come help you right away!_

* * *

 **Chapter was a bit shorter than normal, sorry 'bout that.**

 **(Hopefully will be able to update sooner next time!)**


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